Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 30 March

Transcription

1. Mar . 30, 2017 KCCI - eBulletin Karachi needs 8,000 new buses to ease transport woes, CM told Sindh CM has decided to give PKR 2Bn subsidy to transporters to launch a fleet of 600 vehicles to meet the growing requirement of quality passenger buses in the city. Sindh transport minister has said that to resolve the transport issues of Karachi, at least 8,000 buses are required. Dawn. Non-textile exports go down by 40% Pakistan’s exports of non-textile products decreased 39.7% during 8MFY‘17 on a YoY basis. In absolute terms, export proceeds of non-textile products fell to $ 5.1Bn from $ 5.5Bn a year ago. Product-wise details show a decline of 50.2% in petroleum crude, carpets and rugs -17.86%, sports goods -5.49% during the period under review. Dawn. Import policy favors consumers at domestic manufacturers’ expense The tendency to keep supplies of all products and commodities stable through liberal imports has played havoc with both manufacturing and the agriculture sector. This public appeasing policy has kept check on prices, but discouraged domestic production. When the demand for car increased, the govt. did not allow the auto sector to increase capacities, but instead allowed import of used cars at low duties. When there is shortage of tomatoes in the country, the vacuum is filled by duty free imports from India. The News. $ Bn 22.05 Jul-Feb 17 Remittances $ Bn 12.36 Jul-Feb 17 Exports* $ Bn 13.32 Jul-Feb 17 Imports* $ Bn 33.52 Jul-Feb 17 Trade Balance* $ Bn -20.20 Jul-Feb 17 Current Account $ Mn -5,473 % 3.85 Avg. CPI-FY17* Jul-Feb 17 Mar-17 Discount Rate % 5.75 Sources: KCCI Research, PMEX , NCCPL, KSE, SBP, PBS* ** Not Meaningful WoW= week on week; YoY=Year on Year Major Currencies 175 165 155 145 135 125 115 105 95 85 75 Mar-16 GBP, 29-Mar-17, 130.4 EUR, 29-Mar-17, 113.2 USD, 29-Mar-17, 105.0 Jun-16 USD Sep-16 GBP Dec-16 Mar-17 Source: KCCI Research ; Oanda.com EUR Quote of the Day "Every great story on the planet happened when someone decided not to give up, but kept going no matter what." Spryte Lorian Chart of the Day 1,000 500 0.37 73 1,500 1,355.12 2,000 Pakistan's Trade in Services (8MFY17) 309 2,500 677.15 1,028 Sampling, testing of imported petroleum products: Changes in procedure allowed The ECC while considering a summary submitted by the Petroleum Ministry on "import of fuel oil/diesel oil by traders", has approved changes in the sampling and testing quality procedure of imported petroleum products, thereby allowing re-sampling by a third party in case of disputes on Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) results. BR. 17-Mar 492.64 259 Wapda secures local financing of PKR 144Bn for Dasu project Wapda has secured PKR 144Bn for 4,320MW Dasu Hydropower Project by signing local debt financing agreement with a consortium of major local banks led by HBL. This is by far the biggest single loan agreement for any public sector entity in Pakistan’s history. The World Bank is providing a credit of $ 1Bn, while remaining funds are being arranged by Wapda from its own resources and with help of the sovereign guarantee of Pakistan govt. Furthermore, foreign loan of $ 350Mn has also been finalized and an agreement to this effect will be signed very soon. The Nation. Forex Reserves 13.87 112 Govt. to auction frequency spectrum with $ 295Mn base price The govt. has allowed Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to auction a next generation mobile services (NGMS) license with a base price of $ 295Mn from the frequency spectrums left unsold in the previous two auctions. The auction is expected to take place during FY17. The News. Crude (MY'17) Gold (AP'17) Gold (10g) Local Silver (AP'17) Cotton(KHI)-40 kg Kibor-6M 0.00% 0.00% -0.30% NM** 2.38% 0.13% -0.29% 0.38% 0.00% 0.00% WoW -1.01% YoY -2.52% -3.90% 15.99% -34.33% -120.51% 74.57 129 Recoveries likely to exceed PKR 100Bn in current fiscal: AGP Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has said that the recoveries due to effective audit was expected to exceed PKR100Bn during FY17 as the whole mechanism was streamlined and strengthened to ensure zero tolerance for corruption and wrongdoings. The dept. has already recovered PKR 77Bn till 15th Jan’17. Recoveries out of effective audit would be touching more than double from PKR 40Bn in FY15 to PKR 100Bn in FY’17. The News. Change Daily 104.85 106.75 48,376 8.17 49.52 1,254.2 43,671 18.27 7,272 6.13% 34.39 166 PSDP 2016-17: only 63% of allocation released The govt. has released PKR 505Bn (63%), including PKR 122Bn (51% of total budgeted) foreign aid, for different development projects under PSDP 2016-17 against the total budgeted allocation of PKR 800Bn. According to the latest data, out of PKR 122Bn, govt. has released PKR 7.5Bn in foreign aid for development projects of various federal ministries against the total budgeted allocation of PKR 235.7Bn. The Planning Commission of Pakistan has so far followed the stipulated mechanism for release of funds; 1QFY17 (20%), 2QFY17 (20%), 3QFY17 (30%) and 4QFY17 (30%). BR. Value PKR PKR Pts. $ Mn $/bbl $/oz PKR $/oz PKR % 1,205 Cash withdrawal by BB agents: Finance Bill 2017 may incorporate amendment to IT Ordinance Finance Bill 2017 may incorporate “Income Tax Ordinance 2001” amendment for withholding tax adjustment on cash withdrawals by Branchless Banking (BB) agents. This issue has been discussed during 4th meeting of National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) Steering Committee. As BB agents conduct banking transactions on behalf of their customers and such transactions are being settled on a daily basis which attracts withholding tax when withdrawals exceed PKR 50,000 limit. It is, therefore, recommended to the NFIS council that FBR may consider withholding tax adjustment on cash withdrawals by BB agents to the extent of disbursements made to the clients. BR. Unit 29-Mar 29-Mar 29-Mar 29-Mar 29-Mar 29-Mar 29-Mar 29-Mar 29-Mar 29-Mar 22.21 20 Strapped for cash, govt ‘reluctant’ to pay dues of IPPs Struggling to meet its budget deficit target of 3.8% for FY17, the cash-strapped government does not appear in a mood to pay back private power producers their bills amounting to more than PKR 250Bn. The recent correspondence between power companies and the Private Power Infrastructure Board shows that the government is turning up heat on the IPPs for demanding payment of their overdue bills. According to a letter sent to the 13 IPPs that had invoked sovereign guarantees on for the recovery of a portion of their long outstanding bills has been served with legal notice for running what it termed a false and malicious advertisement campaign against the government in newspapers. Dawn. Date / Period 2,135 Govt. begins splitting gas utilities to get loans The govt. has already started the process of splitting public sector gas utilities in order to secure funds from ADB and World Bank (WB). The separation of operational and accounting functions for the transmission and distribution businesses in both gas utilities – Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) – has been made effective since 1st Jan’17. Tribune. List of Indicators USD-Interbank USD-Open MKT KSE-100 index FIPI 206.11 Pakistan invited to conclude FTA with Gulf Cooperation Council In a meeting with Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir, Bahrain’s Commerce and Industry Minister Zayed R Alzayani has invited Pakistan to conclude FTA with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for boosting trade. In this regard, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir has supported the idea of concluding an FTA with GCC, comprising six countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia & the UAE) and directed ministry to send the text of framework agreement to GCC immediately. He further said that nontariff barriers and some tariff barriers needs to be removed and that Bahrain should ease the business visa process to encourage more business-to-business interaction. The Nation. Economic Indicators 743.94 Port surcharge withdrawn In a meeting convened by the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) to resolve the issue of port congestion surcharge, shipping lines have agreed to withdraw the proposed port congestion surcharge on containers handled by two private terminals at the port. The KPT officials also assured the shipping lines of enough space to accommodate containers of both terminals in the case of congestion at the terminals. Dawn. 0 -500 -1,000 -1,500 -2,000 Balance Export Value in $ Mn Import Source: KCCI Research; SBP Disclaimer This report has been prepared by KCCI Research & Development Cell. The information contained herein have been compiled or arrived at based upon information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and in good faith. Such information has not been independently verified. icon represents the sole viewpoint of the KCCI R&D Cell, and is stated to enrich the readers' understanding of the news item. The R&D Dept. bears no responsibility for its correctness or accuracy. Contact: res@kcci.com.pk Value